I’m excited to share that I’ve finally sewn the final seam in the Eye Spy Picnic Plaid quilt top I’ve been making for my son Max. I absolutely love this quilt, made using the Scrappy Picnic Plaid quilt pattern by Lee Heinrich from Freshly Pieced, which was part of the 2016 Quilter’s Planner. I used all fabrics from my stash, a large part of which were Alison Glass fabrics. It was sort of my safety net, as this was one of my first truly “scrappy” quilts and I wanted to be sure I would love it. The vibrant colors and heavy hand of Alison Glass fabric contributions worked; I love this quilt!
If you remember, I began this quilt as part of the 2016 Quilter’s Planner Sew Along back in October of 2016 and made fairly solid progress until around December. Then the holidays and life got in the way of things and with the culmination of the sew along, this project fell back into the endless WIPs list. I think my last update here was in November. Yikes.
Recently, as I finished my last few deadline projects, I decided that it was high time for me to actually finish some of the works in progress I’ve been making at a snail’s pace for my family. I completed the final piecing of these blocks as a leader-ender project with other deadline sewing projects, and just this week, I finally sewed that final seam! That feeling of finally finishing a quilt top never gets old, does it?!
Since this quilt is slated for my nearly 5 year old son Max, I asked him to show me his favorite block. He took a quick look and pointed out a sweet and subtle yellow rabbit block, which surprised me a bit since in the past he’s claimed the turquoise scientist dog, the purple pony, or the green robot as his favorite block.
I thought maybe he had chosen the rabbit block as his favorite since it was closest and he was pretty enthralled in picking daffodils when I asked him outside, so when we returned in and out of the sun, I laid the quilt top out on the floor and asked him again to show me his favorite. True to form, he replied with a good dose of sass, “I already told you. It’s this one!” But of course.
We played a quick game of eye spy with the quilt on his lap, and I got a brief glimpse into the fun that will ensue when this quilt is actually fully quilted and bound. I have a feeling that favorite blocks will change like the wind, and there will be hours of fun centered around seeking out the little details in each print.
Max’s exploration of the quilt top resulted in a climb up and over, a flop all around, and culminated in a dramatic roll right off the couch (of course). This will be a fun family quilt for sure.
I pieced this top using my go-to 50wt Aurifil 2600-Dove thread. I’m still trying to decide how to quilt this, and whether to use Dove to quilt with an all-over design, or to break it down into sections and use coordinating colors for more dense quilting. Max’s birthday is June 14th, so part of me wants to try to shoot for completing it in time to gift it to him then, which makes me lean toward a more simple, all over quilting design, or straight lines to stabilize without going too crazy with quilting. Then again, this quilt will definitely see a lot of use, so denser quilting might be a better choice, even if it means it’s not finished in time for birthday gifting. What would you do?
I used four main strategies in piecing this quilt to ensure I would love the outcome despite any fear of scrappy quilts:
- Rainbow ordered block arrangement
- Bright colors including as much Alison Glass fabric as I could (easy from my stash!)
- The middle grey squares are all the same solid Robert Kaufman Kona fabric (medium grey)
- The black and white diamonds are all made from the same black (an unknown black with silver stars) and white (Lizzy House Twinkle Twinkle in White Metallic from her Whisper Palette for Andover Fabrics) to provide some visual consistency.
Now that I’ve made one scrappy, rainbow-ordered quilt, I absolutely understand the draw, and I don’t think I would need as many safety nets in place to ensure I love the outcome for the next one! Sticking to planned color placement and using fabrics I love would be sufficient.
What are some of your favorite patterns for using scraps?
Special thanks to everyone who sent “eye spy” appropriate scraps a couple years ago during the Instagram Quilty Wishes event. I have more to use, but this quilt would not have been possible without your contributions!
I’m linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday and TGIFF which is over with Leanne at Devoted Quilter this week, and boy it feels good to have this flimsy finished! Perhaps I should get Amanda Jean’s new book No Scrap Left Behind, too!
Night Quilter 
Beautiful Kitty! What rainbow goodness!
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I love this quilt, Kitty! I wish I had discovered quilting when my daughter was much younger. She would have adored an eye spy quilt. That game saved me many times while standing in a long line at the grocery store.
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Beautiful quilt, but I don’t think i would worry too much about the quilting, as Max is more interested in the color and the characters.
One of my favorite scrappy quilts, which I found in an Australian magazine, years ago, is to use squares, of the same size, piece them 5 across and 7 down, making 35 squares. Add a strip of the same measurement as the square, to either side, making it a square block. Then you piece the blocks, one standing up, and the next laying sideways. I do have a picture of it on my IG account, barbhana, and will add another, in a few days.
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Such a happy quilt and perfect for your little guy. I have no idea on the quilting; I draw a blank when it comes to that on just about any quilt. And yes, you definitely need Amanda Jean’s new book!
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This turned out beautifully! I bet that “favorite” blocks will chance over time. They certainly do for me. 🙂 I personally think that a loose all over quilting design will hold up just fine and how excited would Max be to get this for his birthday??!
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I just love this Kitty!!!! So glad you have found the draw of scrappy quilts – you will be addicted. Interesting to read how you co-ordinated parts of the quilt too for consistency. Hmmm quilting – so difficult to advise. My daughter is still waiting for her birthday quilt from last September so I am tempted to do a quick all over design but part of me wants to go all out. Look forward to seeing what you decide.
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If you want an all over pattern that kind of combines ease and fairly dense quilting, maybe a spiral pattern? It will complement the wheel-ish look of the black and white blocks, and you can spiral as tightly or loosely as you feel would be sufficient for the wear the quilt would get. Likewise, you can use one color thread all over, or start in a corner and change as you go through various colored sections.
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Love your rainbow slant to this quilt! I made this quilt, too, and finished it in time to give it to my son for Christmas. It was a LOT of work to get done in the time frame for the quilt along, but what a great feeling to wrap it up…literally! Your son will cherish this always.
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Would it be too much to echo quilt around the white pieces, then those lines would almost join up for the next part. Not too dense, nice and soft and cuddly would be my idea. But he loves it so much already, this will be a treasure/
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Yay finishes AND rainbow quilts. Try something like the infinity/figure eight loops. It’s easy, fast, classic, and works with nearly everything.
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I wonder if over time every block will be the favourite at least once. That would be fun 🙂 I think an all over design would be beautiful, would let you cross this WIP off your list altogether and would let Max get to play with his quilt. Win, win, win!
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If I can consider whatever quilt I am currently working on (and I do), then Max can change his mind infinite times about his favorite block. 🙂 As to quilting, I’ve been doing a lot with dove and it blends quite well into a variety of colors.
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Imagine you figured i meant to say consider whatever quilt FAVORITE …
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It’s so wonderful that Max loves this quilt already! I like your processes for ensuring a personally pleasing scrappy eye spy & it’s a very clever way to keep it both reigned in & beautiful. I’ve already weighed in with my opinion on quilting on IG (straight line in 2600) & after reading this post I’d suggest that whatever you choose, the important thing is to get it done quickly for Max!
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It’s beautiful. I love the imperfection and surprises in this scrappy quilt combined with the organization by using a rainbow color order. I like the idea of echoing seams in the white and black pattern, then you can do some custom quilting in each rainbow section if desired.
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oh wow, it’s beautiful! I’m not always a fan of scrappy, but this kind of ordered, rainbow scrappy I just love!
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This is STUNNING!! Whoa. I have yet to really create anything “scrappy”… but you may have just pushed me over the edge here… Beautiful!
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So cute…
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Oh my goodness, Kitty, it’s gorgeous!!! Mine is still sitting in pieces, in a basket. Waiting to be touched again. Mine was doing to be done in all blues but I’m wondering if I need to raid my scraps and add all the colors of the rainbow now. It’s just beautiful.
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It is absolutely wonderful! So much color! Whatever you decide, Max will love it.
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